Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to reusable surgical instruments, and more particularly, to reusable electrical surgical instruments that are sterilized.
Description of Related Art
Electrical surgical instruments generally comprise of a handle portion having multiple body shells, which houses the electrical components, and a working portion extending from the handle portion, which comes in contact with a patient. After each use, an electrical surgical instrument is disposed of, reused, or partially disposed of and partially reused. Any part of an electrical surgical instrument that is reused must be sterilized to neutralize potentially infectious agents before being reused.
The autoclave process has been used for many years to sterilized reusable surgical instruments. However, the steam and the high-pressure used in the autoclave process can damage electrical components within the housing. Even where the components are disposed in a shell, the components can be damaged if the steam is allowed to infiltrate the joints between the body shells of an electrical surgical instrument. Different sealing methods have been used to seal the joints between body shells.
One such sealing method is to bond the body shells of the handle portion together with adhesives. Another known method employs an o-ring that is compressed between the body shells using screws or other joining means.
The existing sealing methods are known to fail after a varying number of autoclave processes. One cause of the failure is that the sealing materials and the material of the body shells expand and contract at different rates and to differing extents during the autoclave process.
Based on the above, a continuing need exists for a sealing method that will extend the life of reusable electrical surgical instruments capable of maintaining a sealed chamber during the contracting and expansion that takes occurs during the autoclave process.